Purdue's Chris Kramer unstrapped the face guard used to protect his broken nose and headed to the bench.
A couple squirts of water later, the scrappy defensive nuisance was back in Talor Battle's face, often times face-guarding the Big Ten's leading scorer to deny him the ball. After 36 minutes and seven misses, Battle was held scoreless for the third time in his career.
Battle and Stanley Pringle struggled into a combined 2-for-16 from the field, failing to jumpstart Penn State's offense for the third straight game in a 61-47 loss to the Boilermakers Wednesday night at Mackey Arena.
"Our backcourt production has really dropped off dramatically," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis told the Penn State Sports Network. "You gotta have good guard play. I'm not trying to put every thing on them, but we're not getting any production."
Purdue won its first game without forward Robbie Hummel, who did not play for the third straight game.
Purdue forward JaJuan Johnson scored a team-high 14 points, grabbed 13 boards and blocked four shots, including a vicious block that sent a Pringle floater zipping out of bounds.
Battle and Pringle are 16-for-70 during the Nittany Lions' three game losing streak. Jamelle Cornley led the Lions with 16 points and was the only Lion to score more than six points.
DeChellis couldn't give an answer for his backcourt's recent struggles. Before, DeChellis wanted to see Battle and Pringle get into the lane and kick the ball out to get open looks.
Battle finished with six assists, but DeChellis didn't see his floor generals make the extra pass in the second half.
Penn State trailed by just two at the half. But a 21-2 run by the Boilermakers saw Purdue build an 18-point lead.
The Lions scored just 21 points in the second half, marking the fifth straight half they failed to crack 30.
Freshmen Chris Babb and Cammeron Woodyard combined for nine points off the bench for the Lions. But DeChellis knows his team won't snap this three game skid without better play from Battle and Pringle.
"At the end of the day, we're gonna have to have those two kids play better for us," DeChellis said. "Those two kids are gonna have to play. They're not creating much for anyone else right now."
